First Octopot Grow!

[blkbelt65]

This will be the 3rd grow for me, the other 2 were less than optimal to say the least, I water too much and stunted them which ended up in a heavy bottom for the 3G fabric pots and kept the root ball on the upper half of the pot. Hoping the Octopot solves this, just the setup shows me how little water they actually need in the beginning.

19Jan - 2 Banana Sherbet photos(1st time for photos, have only grown 2x, both were several White-Widow autos fems from AliBongo stock) were placed in Jiffys, then right into the medium of 50/50 Sohum/Happy Frog with another 30% or so of Perlite mixed in. Center(solo cup used) of bag is all Happy Frog from top to bottom, 1/2 TSP of great white in the hole and watered down the center(6.2) with water & Rhizo, covered with a dome, 2 days out of soil domes were removed.

I was worried about the one on the left but she looks healthy, I opened the fill cap, perlite and soil was mixed in and with a flashlight looked at the wick basket and it looked empty, thought oh shit how am I going to fix this lol. Carefully lifted the bag out and yep, completely empty - I had to move them a couple times and thought I was careful but the water must have sloshed around and washed the medium completely out of the basket.

I was worried about killing it by dumping and repacking it so I grabbed the bag by the top edges and let gravity assist and raised it up in the air and down with a little force a few times and it refilled the wick! - so far so good a week later, both looking healthy. I really! want to pull the bag all the way out to check but resisted the urge so far.

Both reservoirs are filled to just more than the 1st line. Left one feels moist about 4 inches down so I’m hoping the wick basket is back in order.

Again, new to this so any comments and advice are welcomed. I plan on going with promix + perlite for the next run.

[LivingBlackSoil]

Did you say that you shook water from pot back to res?

[blkbelt65]

No, the WICK basket was empty and I didn’t want to dump the whole pot and try to refill it and possibly damage the root system so while holding the top edges of the bag in the air, I dropped it down with a little Force and let gravity push the medium back into the basket and it worked great.

[Papalag]

@blkbelt65

ots and kept the root ball on the upper half of the pot. Hoping the Octopot solves this, just the setup shows me how little water they actually need in the beginning.

The bottom feeding will drive the roots down

A spray bottle will come in handy

Only top water when transferring into the Octopot
Let the res do the rest

@blkbelt65

white in the hole and watered down the center(6.2) with water & Rhizo, covered with a dome, 2 days out of soil

Great start brother you got this under control

When filling the net pot pat the soil down firm not too firm ( don’t strong arm it )

Looks great

I’ll stick around for the show

Paps

[GrouchyOldMan]

Greetings @blkbelt65,

At startup with octos, make sure that your rez water level actually touches the basket so water can wick up from there. Keep it low, but still touching the net cup.

To avoid the ‘empty basket’ problem you need to pack your soil firmly in the basket before filling the rest of the sleeve.

Another trick is to use @Jetdro’s “Turbo” transplant method where you begin by putting an empty pot or cup (with drain holes) the same size as your seedlings in the dry octo soil, then water straight down the cup. The water will drain straight down towards the rez and when you transplant your roots will follow that path to the reservoir. That’s much faster than the first topwatering the Octo instructions suggest.

Pap’s 2022 spring grow - #778 by Papalag

Don’t panic, you are on a righteous path!

Regards and best of luck,
-Grouchy

[blkbelt65]

Thanks, only seeds here right now, so other than watering the hole, my thought on that was it would stop the roots from trying to populate in the soil too fast and just lure them down to the res.

At this point it’s all an experiment to me so I’m writing every single thing I do down as well as taking daily pics.

I was planning on using recharge every couple weeks and pour it straight down next to the plant… do you use it?

I can’t imagine I’ll be able to let these two veg for very long the tent I have is just 20 in by 35 in and 5 ft tall. Light is viparspectra P1000 and REALLY fills that little tent out well with light. I have one fan up high in there above the light directed at one of the side holes so it’s pushing hot air out and the bottom is unzipped so it’s sucking fresh air in, seems to be working well it stays about 74 to 76 in there.

Yeah I patted them both down equally and it worked nicely until the ocd kicked in and I kept moving them around and it forced that wick soil right out into the res. When I pick the other one up it was perfect. I am really itching to pick the left one up again and see how the wick basket is doing but figured I’d give it a couple weeks and let some Roots get in there and help stabilize the soil.

[blkbelt65]

Hey man thank you for all the information I appreciate it I dig that cup idea that’s pretty smooth what I did was take a small watering can and made a good-sized hole for the jiffy pellet but before putting it in I poured the water straight into that hole and then drop the jiffy pellet in but that cup is a great idea.

[Papalag]

@blkbelt65

I was planning on using recharge every couple weeks and pour it straight down next to the plant… do you use it?

No I never tried it

My pro mix and perilite mixture has no nutritional value at all this way I only give them what they need
And I feed every reservoir fill ( they feed continuously)

@GrouchyOldMan if he’s using the official Octopot not the home made ones the net pot is touching the bottom of the reservoir at all times
Great point for the home made ones

Paps

[blkbelt65]

Yes, official Octopots, 3G version.

Well it was me moving them around that washed out the wick, the float indicator had a bunch of perlite pieces in it… so much it wasn’t even moving up and down which would have only happened from the water sloshing back and forth.

[Mr.greenbee]

I used recharge my last grow once a week top watered and I don’t recommend it. Compared to not using it I see a big difference in my plant health and overall growth is way better without it plus there more root in the res where you want them. Recharge is a great product but top watering the octopot isn’t a good idea. I’ve been thinking about adding a half gallon to the res after the res drys out for 24hr and pumping out what left after but haven’t tried it yet

[blkbelt65]

Thx greenbee, I’ll do without it this time, no sense in adding something to a new system I’m unfamiliar with.

[Floyd]

Its the top watering that you want to avoid. You want the roots to find the rez, not stay in the soil.

[blkbelt65]

Absolutely. Many add it in after roots are in the res. Chris has a “bending the rules” section where he states teas and such can be top fed 1x per week from the top. Either way, I’ll try it next time, this being a 1st time with Octos and only my 3rd grow, I’m not experimenting, I need a good grow!

[ColeLennon]

Right On Man!!! tagged for follow. @Jetdro has become The Mighty Wizard of Octopots

[blkbelt65]

Any advice as to when I should flip the lights on this banana sherbet photo?

Tent is 20 in x 35 in by 5 ft tall and these octos take up a good bit of real estate.

[Floyd]

Dont know anything about growing that strain, but I would err on the side of caution. Growth can be explosive when the roots hit the rez.
Even knowing this I still ended up against the lights in a taller tent than that with my recent ICC grow.

[blkbelt65]

Looks like it’s mainly an indica strain, these are from growers choice. I was really hoping to get at least 2 toppings before changing to 12/12, guess we’ll see how it goes, can’t complain about more!

On that… how do you guys change over to 12/12 from a veg of 18/6? Do I drop it down daily till I get to 12 or is it ok to just go straight to 12/12 when I’m ready?

[Floyd]

I personaly just flip from 18/6 straight to 12/12

[MrKen]

Beautiful . I’ve been growing with Octopots for two years now. Only becomes a pain during flowering where your plants might drink up to or more than a gallon of water a day. Topping is your best friend, I max out my 7 and 8ft tents with the octopots, I currently run a light schedule of 6 on and 2 off, but use to dial it down an hour every couple days to avoid shock. Your going to love this grow

[Papalag]

@Mr.greenbee

dding a half gallon to the res after the res drys out for 24hr and pumping out what left after but haven’t tried

I do this with compost tea but I don’t pump it out the plant will drink a gallon inv veg in a few days time